Valentina Ruffoni's Information:
Community & Events Manager with a demonstrated history of working internationally for various companies and projects.
She has created multiple online and offline communities, including Eat Out Madrid, the largest online Facebook community in Madrid connecting food and drink lovers and CMX Connect Madrid, a local program by CMX powered by Bevy bringing together community-builders based in the city.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentinaruffoni/
Twitter: @valentinaruffon

With almost five years of community management experience in SaaS-based software, Shannon has seen it all and still loves her job. You’ll often find her with a smile on her face and geeking out about community management.
Twitter: @llamasayswhat
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-m-emery/

You can reach Erica Kuhl at:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericakuhl/
Twitter: @ericakuhl

Website: https://www.ericakuhl.com/ 

Matt Mecham can be found on LinkedIn and at Invision Community  

• How did community managers find themselves in this position?
• We discuss how Blake Ethridge cultivated some of the most active users at Texas Instruments which allowed him to show case examples of improving better customer experience (CX) through community.
• Why modern B2B companies fail in customer experience as they move into a digital transformation.  Hint, it's a lack of a digital customer support strategy.
• How did Blake use bottom-up customer input for product owners at TI?
• Why do customers join communities?  Blake answers this with his experience at TI.

Please listen to Episode 012 to hear the beginning of this conversation. 

• Blake Etheridge starts this part of the discussion how community creates a 360 customer view.
• If you work the community correctly, super users will start to curate and help support customers for the enterprise.
• Learn how Blake customized community reward benefits to understand what made super users motivated.
• Why did Blake flip the customer script at TI's affinity conference for invited super users.  Clue: What do you want to see and experience?
• What happens as your adjust your rewards and realize you may have over-rewarded?
• How Blake won the trust of sales and marketing teams to help him find super users in his program?

Please listen to Episode 013 to hear the continuation of this 

• How Blake Etheridge worked TI's internal organization to create a large referral engine to find top users and new users for community.  
• Creating events for employees started driving internal energy and interest.  Success is like a virus.
• Why planning strategic face-to-face meetings with your key members are important? 
• Vested Interest to know what each community member needed to create a great experience"
• The Blake Ethridge framework of building a B2B community super user program:
  • Phase 1: Reach out to your sales team and learn how to community members can help
  • Phase 2: Identify individual users outpacing internal support response
  • Phase 3: Get to know your internal and super user advocates.  Find out what motivates them and offer a win-win solution on community. "How can I help you, here is how you can help me"
  • Phase 4: Create an internal referral program to find super users in the employee and customer base.  

In starting a new community, Chris was thinking about what are some of the tactics to drive to a Super User Program. He used the power of his community to help understand what others are doing and how they built a super user program. We touched up the steps you need to take to build one for your Community. 

To listen to Blake Ethridge's presentation on Super User Program click here.
Define your program and strategy
Critical baseline
Steps to finding users
Chicken and the egg
Running your program 
Executing your effort

• Discuss the three types of offline type events for communities
• Walk through what a fellow colleague Blake Etheridge did at TI
• Discuss integrating community managers with event and marketing staff to see how you can leverage each other.
• Why should you get your customers to believe in community
• What are community members looking for.  

• How to started an offline events with your community
• Types of offline events
  • Trade Shows
  • Ad hoc events
  • User Groups
• Discuss when in the evolution cycle of a community should an offline community start
• Reminding community managers that offline events need to follow the purpose of your community